If I Told You What I Was
by Another Local Dreamer
Summary: One year before the Night of the Owls, Nightwing disappears. One year later, a Talon saves Robin's life. Coincidence? I think not. T for my crippling paranoia. Please R&R.
1. Prologue

GOTHAM CITY

12:00 AM

ONE YEAR BEFORE THE NIGHT OF THE OWLS

Dick Grayson never walked, he _flew._ As a kid, a flying Grayson, he flew on the trapeze with his parents, the worlds finest acrobats. But then they fell, and he kept on flying. As Robin, the Boy Wonder, he flew with the Batman across the grimy streets of Gotham, beating up bad guys and saving the people who needed saving. His parents had never had a net, so he decided to be other peoples net, to catch them before they hit the ground. Then, Robin got too small, or he got too big, and he shed Robin's feathers for Nightwing's, to fly solo over the streets of Bludhaven, a city more in need of a net than even Gotham.

Tonight, though, Nightwing wasn't soaring above Bludhaven. He was patrolling over the streets of Gotham as a favor to the Bat, who was currently off-world on a mission. So far he'd stopped three almost-muggings, a convenience store robbery, and two idiot kids who thought it would be funny to write 'I wuz here' in spray paint on the Gotham National History Museum. They didn't think cleaning it up with steel wool and bleach was quite as funny, though. Nightwing thought it was hilarious.

As he grappled over Gotham Park, he heard a scream of pain. Fast as a lightning bolt, he'd switched directions and swung in the direction of the scream. He landed in a tree above what appeared to be a murder-in-progress. The murderer was dressed in a black body suit with what appeared to be an owl theme. The murderee was none other than James Smith, Mayor Hady's personal aid. He currently had a long, thin knife with a wrought iron owl handle stuck through his left calf and into the ground. Ouch.

Nightwing jumped out of the tree and landed lightly on the ground. "Hey, Featherbutt! Why don't you pick on someone your own size!" The owl dude ignored him, which kind of ticked him off. So he decided to tackle him. And he would've, had the guy's leg not snapped out with inhuman speed and caught him right in the gut. "Ooof!" He fell back on his butt, the wind completely knocked out of him. Featherbutt raised another knife - _where had he pulled that out of?-_ and spoke for the first time.

"James Smith, the Court of Owls has sentenced you to die." The knife fell, and James Smith went limp.

Meanwhile, Nightwing had managed to get back up on his feet. He glared a the owl guy with absolute hatred. "You _really_ shouldn't have done that." The man turned to face him, and Nightwing swallowed his fear. There was just something so fundamentally _wrong_ with the way he moved. He spoke again.

"Nightwing. For crimes against the Court of Owls, you have been sentenced to a trial by the Grandmaster." Nightwing grinned. "You know, you're not the first crazy nutcase in an animal costume who's tried to kidnap me. What makes you think you'll be the last?"

"I am Talon. I do not make mistakes. I will not fail the Court." He leapt at Nightwing, and Dick tried to dodge, but another insanely fast kick caught him in the chest and he felt a couple ribs snap like twigs. However, Nightwing had fought through worse injuries, and he easily returned the favor. He broke 'Talon's' arm in two places, elbow and wrist. Talon stopped and looked at this.

"You'll have to do better than that." Two sharp cracks echoed through the clearing as Talon's arm snapped back into place.

Nightwing stared in astonishment. First, the guy hadn't even flinched at a broken arm, then it had healed in ten seconds. While Nightwing was gaping, Talon was charging. Talon hit him in the back of the head and Nightwing's last thought before he faded into unconsiousness was _this was the lamest fight I have ever been in._

0000

When he came to, he found himself in some sort of amphitheater. In the stands sat dozens of men and women, all wearing masks that resembled a barn owls face. That, combined with the dim lighting and absolute silence made for a seriously creepy enviroment. Finally, one of them stepped forward. He had the same white mask as the others, but was wearing a black cape that appeared to be made out of feathers. Nightwing reached up and made sure his mask was still in place.

"Nightwing", stated the man, who he assumed was the Grandmaster. "The Court of Owls has sentenced you to die. But first, you will remove your mask." Nightwing glared, all attempt at humor gone out the window. He was beginning to sense he was in serious trouble here.

"Like hell I will."

"Very well." He nodded his head at two men standing invisibly in the shadows of the arena. One was Talon, and the other was dressed in an almost identical costume. They stepped forward and restrained Nightwing, while the Grandmaster stepped forward and harshly ripped off his domino mask. As they saw his face, shock rippled through the gathered Court.

"Richard Grayson. The Lost Heir. The Gray Son of Gotham. You have returned to us." Dick was confused.

"How can I have returned to you if I was never with you in the first place?" Grandmaster stepped forward and cupped Dick's face in his hands.

"You were meant to be with us from the very start." He looked at Talon. "Change of plans. William Cobb! Meet your great-grandson. You will begin his conditioning and training once he is fully healed."

0000

Dick had to put this out there. There were worse places to be held against your will. He was currently shackled to an old fashioned four posted bed, but hey, he could be lying on a metal slab in a moldy dungeon. _And_ he he was getting three meals a day. Quality service there. And yeah, sure, there was that whole shackled-to-a-bed-thing, and a couple of highly trained assassins guarding his door (Apparently they were _all_ called Talon), but how many super-secret organized crime syndicates do you know that give their prisoners a bed and food?

As he was musing upon this, the door to his cell, sorry, _room_ , flew open violently, and William Cobb walked in. He stopped by Dick's side and began undoing the cuffs. "You're letting me go? Aw, thanks Gramps! I knew you would come to your senses!" Cobb stiffened.

"The Court has deemed you healed enough to begin your conditioning. And do _not_ call me _Gramps._ You will address me as Grandfather or Talon."

"Sure thing _, Gramps."_

Cobb nodded as if he had just been proven right about something. "Insolence. I suppose we'll have to beat that out of you, Grandson." Well _. That_ didn't sound good. "Follow me."

Dick followed Cobb to a training room, where a Talon uniform was roughly thrown at him. "Put that on."

"No."

Suddenly, an owl handled knife appeared at his throat. Dick put the uniform on. _All I have to do is hold out until Batman can find me,_ he told himself. _He won't leave me here._

Cobb waited until he was finished and then said, "Try and kill me."

"Umm... What?" Dick asked intelligently. Cobb sighed and muttered something about _Just his luck to get a brain-dead, half-witted, drooling moron for a grandson._

"I want you", Cobb stated slowly, "To try to kill me. To attempt to end my life."

0000

The first time Dick killed his grandfather, it was a complete accident. It was after ten hours of Cobb beating the crap out of him and insulting his family and friends. Dick threw a roundhouse kick at his head just a _little bit too hard,_ and Cobb's head snapped to the side with an audible _crack!_ as he crumpled in a heap. Dick went to a corner and dry-heaved. He had sworn never to kill someone, he'd just broken Batmans rule number one. On his own flesh and blood, no less. He turned around to see his grandfather staring at him. Perfectly fine. He was shocked. "Good work, Gray Son. We'll make a Talon out of you yet. Training resumes tomorrow."

The last time, Dick killed him within the first five miutes, because he was tired and frustrated, and it didn't count as killing someone if they kept on coming back to life, right? That's what he told himself, anyways. Cobb staightened up. "Well done. You are ready for the next phase of conditioning, grandson."

He felt a blow to the back of his head and went out like a light.

When he awoke, he found himself in some sort of enclosed maze. The walls were white, the floor was white, and the ceiling was white. It was driving him batty. (Haha, get it?) Suddenly, he felt a presence in his mind, not M'gann or Martian Manhunter, but still familiar, in a bad way.

 _Miss me?,_ asked Psimons voice in his head.

 _Like the flu,_ Dick thought back.

 _Oh, well... I guess not all sentiments can be shared. Anyway, the crazy owl people have hired me to remake you into their perfect little Talon. I would much rather kill you, but I was only too happy to oblige._

 _Love you too,_ Dick thought, right before searing pain erupted through his psyche. He forgot everything exept _makeitstopmakeitstopmakeitstopstopstopstopstop._ Eventually, he blacked out, again.

0000

When he woke up, he had no idea where he was. It looked like... a white maze? He also had no idea who he was. That was scary. He suddenly realized that he was wearing a mask. He reached up and pulled it off. It was ... owl themed? That didn't seem right. Suddenly, a loud voice boomed out of nowhere. He spun in a circle trying to figure out where it was coming from, but he couldn't see any speakers.

"Talon. You will replce your mask." He looked around but didn't see anyone else. Did that make him 'Talon'? Didn't seem right. The voice rang out again. "Gray Son. Did you not hear me?" Gray Son. That sounded slightly better. He replaced the mask.

He wandered through the maze for what felt like forever. _I hope there's no Scorch Trials after this._

He stopped and frowned. Where had that thought come from? And what wäs a 'Scorch Trial'? He felt like he was at the very edge of remembering, but something pulled him back.

He shook his head in frustration and kept walking. After a few more hours of walking he started feeling dehydrated. A few more and he became hungry. A few more and he was ready to pass out, when he suddenly came upon a guy hog tied in the center of a corridor.

The voice spoke again. "If you kill him Talon, you will be freed from the labyrinth. Just say, 'John Ward. The Court of Owls has sentenced you to die.' Then end it." Talon (That must have been his name) frowned under the mask.

"Why?"

"You will not question the Court!", they snarled. "But if you absolutely must know, he is a very bad man who has been embezzeling money from the citzens of Gotham for years." Talon felt rage bubble up in his chest.

"And _no one_ has done anything?"

"You are about to.", the voice said.

The man looked up at him with teared filled eyes. "Please. I have a family, a wife and a daughter. I'm sorry! Please don't kill me!" Talon gazed down unemotionally.

"John Ward. The Court of Owls has sentenced you to die." He drew a knife from the bandolier on his chest. John twitched once and lay still.

After the deed was done, a section of the wall slid up, and two people dressed like him walked forward. One of them clapped him on the shoulder. "You did well, grandson. Now you shall truly become one of us." Grandson? As if he could sense what Talon was thinking, he said, "Do you remember me?" Talon shook his head.

"I'm sorry, Grandfather."

"That's fine.", He replied. "You were hurt very badly and the procedure was expected to give you memory loss. This next one will hurt terribly, but it's only to keep you safe." Talon bowed his head.

"Of course, Grandfather." _But you didn't say how I was hurt or anything about the man I just killed. Something's not right._ For some reason, thinking of John Ward made him feel violently ill.

They led him to room with something that reminded Talon uncomfortably of an electric chair. They told him to sit and then strapped him in. He was overwhelmed by the sensation of a thousand needles poking through his skin. Then, liquid fire began flowing through his veins. He couldn't hold back a scream and soon passed out. When he awoke, his Grandfather was standing over him. He informed Talon that he was to be retired until the Court had further use for him. Until then, he was to begin his new training. Grandfather smiled sadistically at this.

Talon knew that no matter how hard he tried, he would never be able to forget the weeks that followed. Apparently Talons were not allowed to feel pain, so they hurt him physically, over and over again, until he stopped reacting. Now they were leading him down a dark hallway. They entered a huge room, one that appeared to be lined wall to wall with coffins. They stopped in front of one labeled _**GRAYSON,**_ and ordered him to _get in_ _ **.**_ He obeyed, too numb to think about disobeying. Once he was in, the door closed and the temperature dropped. He tried to stay awake, but it was so cold, and he was so tired... he blacked out.

When he came to, he couldn't see, couldn't hear, couldn't move. He just endured. He wondered if he was dead. Then he remembered he couldn't, not anymore. He kind of wished he could. _Existing_ like this was torture.


	2. If I Told You What I Was

**GOTHAM CITY**

 **NIGHT OF THE OWLS**

The door to Talon's prison flew open. Feeling began to return to his limbs, and his eyes opened. A person in a white mask stood in front of him, having opened the door. "Good morning Talon." Their voice was harsh, clipped, buisiness-like. "It is time for your first mission. Today, the Court will rise, and Gotham will fall. You are to end the corrupt, miserable life of Gotham's current mayor, Sebastian Hady." Talon rose and stretched. Anything to get out of that horrible box. He nodded.

"Understood."

0000

Mayor Hady's security was so sad, it made Talon want to laugh. It consisted of two sleepy security guards outside of his office and a single camera in the hall. After taking care of the guards, he threw the solid oak doors open. Mayor Hady looked up, annoyed. "Yes, what is... What _are_ you?"

Talon didn't say anything, just lunged across the room and pinned the mayor to the wall with a knife. "Sebastian Hady. The Court of Owls has sentenced you to die." He was about to slit his throat, when a small, brightly colored blur threw him across the room. _Who?_

The person was standing in a defensive position, katana raised, on the other side of the desk. He couldn't have been more than ten. He looked somewhat familiar, but Talon couldn't place him. He lunged at Talon, and Talon sidestepped easily. The kid growled. "Stand _still_ you cowardly fool!"

Then he attacked again. The kid was good, but Talon was better. The fight ended shortly, with a knife at the kid's neck. Talon still couldn't shake the feeling of familiarity. He frowned under the mask.

"What is your name?"

The kid glared up at him. "Like you don't know who Robin is, you owl-themed imbecile. Now let me go so I can rip off your head and feed it to Bat-Cow."

That didn't sound quite right. "No it's not. Your name is-" Why couldn't he remember? It started with a- _with a-a...D!_ "Damian!" The kid stopped struggling.

"How do you know me?" For some reason, Talon had the strangest urge to yell _Dami! It's me!_ and rip off his mask. Which made no sense because he'd never seen 'Robin' before in his life. Right?

"I... I don't know.", he answered honestly. He stood up and removed his knife from it's position at _Damian's_ neck. The kid stood up, rubbing his neck and eyeing Talon suspiciously.

"Why did you let me go? You're an assassin. If I was in your position, I would've killed me."

"I don't know", Talon said, again. "But I can't kill you."

Just then, another Talon swung through the window. "Cobb sent me to see if you have completed your mission, Gray Son. But, I see a little bird has distracted you. Would you mind if I killed him for you?"

"No!" Talon shouted, without thinking. The other Talon bowed his head.

"Of course. How thoughtless of me. Your find,your kill." Talon frowned.

"What? No."

"Then you will not mind if I allow his head and body to part ways." Then with a roar, he lunged, faster than any human, except a speedster. Talon couldn't let this happen. He didn't realize he was moving, until Damian's katana was in his hands, and he was rushing at the attacker. Then suddenly, the other Talons head rolled across the pine floorboards.

0000

Damian was in shock. He stared at the decapitated Talon, too surprised to move. The other Talon had seemed almost angry that his comrade would try to kill Robin. He hadn't seen any other Talons show any human emotion that night, but that was just the thing, wasn't it? Talons weren't really human anymore. Right? He turned around to ask the Talon who saved him how he knew Damian's name, but he was gone, and there was an owl handled knife through the mayor's eye. Damian said some words Alfred would _not_ approve of and ran to look out the window. He saw the Talon's sillhouette a few buildings away. He sighed and leapt after him.

0000

Talon didn't really know what to do, since he had completed his mission. He knew they would never trace the Talon's death to him, as he had been killed with Robin's katana. He leapt, and jumped, and flipped across the Gotham City skyline. It felt _amazing._ He was finally able to move, to breathe, to _fly._ He couldn't do any of those things in the hole the Court called home. He stopped on top of the tallest building he could find and looked over the city. The lights twinkled like stars.

Out of nowhere, a heavy, booted foot slammed into the side of his head, and Talon felt something in his neck go _snap!_ The last thing he heard before everything went dark was Damian's voice saying, "Todd! What the _hell_ do you think you're doing?"

0000

Talon awoke slowly. He stared at a Gotham rooftop, which wasn't the prettiest sight in the world. He calmly watched a monster spider amble by his face as he felt the bones in his neck popping back in place. He stood up and looked at the newcomer curiously.

"Why is there a bucket on your head?" Robin burst out laughing. Talon looked at him.

"Where did you learn to cuss like that? You're, like, ten. I heard you from a couple of buildings away." Damian looked proud, and pointed at Buckethead. Buckethead interrupted.

"It's _not_ a bucket! (Shut up, Dami.) Robin says you saved his life. My name is Red Hood." Again, that sounded right and wrong at the same time. He was trying to remember why, when his earpeice crackled, and the Grandmaster's voice filled his brain.

"Talon. There is a situation at Arkham Asylum that requires your immediate assistance. In a futile attempt to save himself, Jeramiah Arkham has released all of his inmates. To further complicate things, the Bat has shown up." Talon nodded once, even though he knew Grandmaster couldn't see him.

"Acknowledged." Talon made to leap to the next building. He saw Robin put a hand up to his ear. Another boot kicked him to the side.

"Where the **** do you think you're going, Talon?" said Hood.

"Situation at Arkham." Robin and Talon spoke at the same time. Talon glared, but you couldn't tell through the mask.

"Are we just going to let the unstable, unkillable, ninja, assassin help his crazy unkillable ninja friends? 'Cause that sounds like a real bad idea to me. And I'm the king of bad ideas." Robin slowly nodded.

"The apocalypse is nigh if I'm agreeing with you, but that actually makes sense." A smirk crept onto his face. "Red Bucket." Hood groaned, but ignored him.

Talon sighed. "If I swear not to harm you, or any of your allies, will you let me go?" _It's not like you could do anything to stop me if I really need to get away from you._ Hood looked at him suspiciously.

"Why should we believe you?" Talon sighed, and handed him one of his daggers. "If a Talon loses one of these, we are instantly disgraced. If you have it, I'll be forced to stay in your line of sight." Hood looked at Robin, who nodded. Hood pulled out his pistols and took off the safety.

"Feel free to take a couple potshots at the bat. Kudos to you if you hit him." He jumped off the building. Robin glared after him and turned to Talon.

"Do _not_ kill my father."

0000 _

Arkham Asylum was a complete mess. Dr. Arkham had locked himself in an office, leaving Batman to fight off the crazies and Talons. Talon had snuck off while the two bats were arguing over something stupid. The knife wasn't _that_ important. He was already so quiet that they hadn't noticed his sudden departure, or his absence. He came around to the side of the building that the 'good' doctor was cowering in. He kicked open the window, shattering it, and pinned Arkham to his desk. The office was spacious, but dark. There was one of those hanging plant things in the corner. Talon could tell it was fake. He raised a knife.

"Jeramiah Arkham. The Court of Owls has sentenced you to die."

He ran out of the office, and into the fray. "Arkham is dead!", he yelled. "Retreat!"

The Talons around him nodded their heads in respect and vanished into the shadows. Talon moved to do the same, when he felt a pair of Bat-cuffs clamp around his wrists, then his ankles. He tripped and face-planted. Then, he saw Batman take out some kind of handheld device. He could have sworn he saw the Bat _smile_. But, then again, he wasn't crazy. At least, that's what the voices in his head told him. (that was a joke. You can laugh now.)

"I got this from Mr. Freeze, Talon." _Crap. He was so screwed._ Then everything went cold and dark.

0000 _

The first thing Talon was aware of was that the temperature was slowly rising. He opened his eyes and shook of te lingering chill in his bones. He looked up and immediately wished he hadn't. He appeared to have come to in the middle of a very heated argument. "- _hell_ do you think you're doing? First you imprison one of the turkeyheads, now you're unfreezing him? What if he decides to kill us all for his precious little Court?"

"Master Jason, I do believe that will be five dollars in the swear jar." A thin, well-dressed English gentleman with a pencil mustache spoke. Talon cocked his head. He also seemed familiar.

"Batman, he's awake." Talon turned his head around to glare at a teenager. He, too, wore a cape, designed to look līke feathers.

"Who're you?", Talon slurred. All right, so maybe he wasn't firing on all cylinders yet.

The dude glanced at him. "Red Robin."

"Yum.", muttered Talon. He wasn't really sure why he said it, but it amused him. The Bat walked up to him and tilted Talon's face so he was forced to look at him. Talon guessed it was supposed to be intimidating, but after Grandfather? Meh.

"Name." It wasn't a request. Talon shrugged.

"Wish I could tell you."

Batman frowned. "Why can't you?" Talon shrugged again.

"Can't remember. Court gave me some crap about how they did it to help me, but I'll believe that when the Sahara freezes over."

Red Hood frowned. "Hey, you're the Talon that saved Robin earlier!"

Batman looked up sharply. "What?'' He whirled around to give Talon the Bat-glare (patent pending) and growled. "Take off the mask", he said, reaching out to do it himself.

Talon barely remembered what happened next. He yanks his hands out of the handcuffs, breaking his wrists and fingers. His foot connected with the side of Batman's head stunning him for a second. To a Talon, a second is an eternity. Batman was on the ground before any of them could blink. Talon's foot was on his neck. A single move, and he could easily crush the Bat's windpipe. But he didn't.

Instead, he steped back, horrified with himself. Which makes no sense, because Talon's killed people before, so why is this one any different? Because after all, under the cowl, cape, and broodiness, the Bat is actually a man. And and under all the body armor and knives, Talon is still an Owl.

0000 _

Talons cell is nice, he supposes. The walls are some sort of bullet proof glass, and theres a door in the back that leads to a bathroom. Talon had taken his cowl off in front of the mirror, but he didn't recognize the face that stared back. He put his mask back on and lay down on the bed.

He didn't sleep. He didn't need to, not anymore. He just lay there and spaced out. He was aroused by someone knocking on the glass. Red Hood. He was bringing Talon another plate of food that would remain uneaten. This was strange. Usually it was the English man. Alfred? Whatever.

0000

Hood looked at the Talon. The thing didn't act like a vicious murdering psycopath. Except, he'd killed Arkham. And lied to Jason. He leaned against the glass. The Talon didn't move. "Y'know I think you did the city a real favor, offing Hady."

Talon looked up. "What?"

Jason shrugged noncomitically. "Gotham's a better place without the corrupt old bas-" Wait. Alfred was always watching, and Jason was almost broke. "-bad politician."

Talon rolled over, and Jason could've sworn he was smiling under the cowl. "Thanks, Little Wing."

Jason's blood turned to ice. Talon didn't seem to realize what he'd said. "So, uh, I was wondering if you could take your mask off? Maybe we could find your name."

Talon brightened at this prospect. "Sure." He paused. "I didn't mean to attack Batman earlier. He just came at me without warning. I didn't think."

Jason waved a hand in the air. "I'd pay you to do it again."

Talon nodded, once and reached up. Suddenly, Jason found himself staring into the black eyes ( _wrong wrong wrong)_ of his older brother. "Oh, shi-" Alfred was in the corner."-take mushrooms. What happened to you, Dickie? "

 **Please R &R. Any mistakes you could point out would be amazing.**

 **For people who read this story (ha ha funny), I'll try to update sometime between Thursday and Friday. But no promises. I just startd freshman year of highschool, so... We'll have to see how that goes. (Update: If my science teacher makes one more stupid misogynistic comment, I'm gonna freaking LOSE it. )**


	3. Would You Turn Your Back On Me?

_CRASH!_ The sound echoed through the cave, bouncing off stalactites and scaring up a cloud of bats. They fluttered up into the air, squeaking and chittering. The Bat Family stood in shock, staring at an event that had happened only once in living memory. Alfred had dropped his china.

They were even more shocked when they followed his gaze to see what had caused him to smash the Wayne family's prized heirlooms. Richard John Grayson was standing in the middle of the Batcave, wearing a Talon outfit and looking an awful lot like one. "Dick?" Jason asked again.

Talon wrinkled up his nose. "That wasn't very ni- Wait. That's my name, isn't it?" He frowned.

" Dick it's me, J-"

"Jason", Talon realized. "How could I forget you? You're my brother. You disappeared for a long time. But I can't remember why." He turned and pointed at all of the family. "Damian, Tim, Bruce, Jason, Alfred."

He frowned in concentration. " _How_ do I know that?" Talon closed his eyes and tried to dig deeper into his brain. He hit some sort of mental barrier and he pushed, trying to break through it. Suddenly, searing pain burst theough his skull, and he dropped to his knees, holding in a scream. Bruce and Jason helped him up to his feet and sat him down in a chair. Bruce started talking, but not in his 'Batman' voice.

"Dick, I want you to think back. What's the first thing you remember?" Dick closed his eyes again. "A... man. His head was clear, you could see his skull. His voice... it was in my head. And everything went white. And then I woke up and-" Through out the account, Talo-Dick's-breath had been increasing steadily, until he was gasping for breath.

Jason cursed under his breath. "Psimon, that son of a-" He looked at Alfred. "-gun." Damian spoke for the first time.

"Who's Psimon?"

Bruce answered. "He's a very powerful telepath. Dick encountered him in some of his first missions with the YJ team." He looked at Tim. "Hold down the fort while I call J'onn."

Damian glared at Tim. "Why him, father?"

"He's the only one I trust not to burn down the cave."

0000 _

Talon was sittng in Batman's chair, spinning it in a desperate attempt to entertain himself. He kicked his foot against the floor and spun faster. Tim sighed and rubbed his temples. Every time the chair completed a three-sixty, it made a squeaking noise loud enough to wake the dead. If there was any doubt that this was his brother, it was gone.

Tim groaned and stood up. Maybe he could get some information about the Court. It might at least stop the squeaking. He walked over to where Dick was sitting. The chair kept on spinning, so Tim stopped it with his arm. The figure sitting in it finally looked up. "Huh? Oh, sorry. Tim, right?"

Tim wanted to shake him and scream, _Yes, it's Tim! I'm your brother, remember!? All the things we've done together? The April Fools when we spray-painted all of Jason's helmets pink and added smiley faces? Having to wash the Batmobile after we tried to do the same thing to the Batsuits?_ But all he said was, "Yeah, that's me. You mind telling me anything about your time with the Owls?"

Dick shrugged. "Don't really remember most of it, like I said. Just the cold and the maze. Absolutely nothing before that." This didn't really make a lot of sense to Tim, but he decided to go with it.

"What about Nightwing? Do you know anything about him?" Tim tried to keep a hopeful tone out of his voice. Dick shook his head and his heart sank. "Wait! Didn't he used to work with Batman?" Then: ""Oh no. Did you know him?"

Tim frowned. "What do you mean by 'oh no'?" Dick frowned.

"The Court said they'd killed him. Made a big production out of it. Burned his costume in front of all of us Talons." Tim felt sick. Talon stretched. "Any more questions?"

"No. I think we'd better wait for Martian Manhunter."

0000 _

Talon had stopped spinning in the chair after Jason had shot the mechanism out. He lay on the bed in his cell aimlessly tossing a knife in the air and catching it, point-first. Batman walked through the unlocked door and glared at him. "Where did you get that? We confiscated all your weapons." Talon raised an eyebrow and chucked the knife without looking. It sank hilt-deep into the wall.

"Obviously not. What's up?"

"Martian Manhunter is here to see you." Talon somersaulted to his feet amd followed Batman out the door. They stopped in front of the Bat-computer and a man stepped out of the shadows.

Talon whirled around, hand going for another concealed knife, but he froze when he saw the man's appearance. He elbowed Batman.

"He's green."

"I know, Dick."

It took a moment for Talon to connect 'Dick' to his name. Then he felt stupid.

"But he's _green._ "

"We've already established this fact."

The man spoke. "Perhaps this will help." His form shifted into that of a well-dressed African American man. "Is that better?"

"Not really. But why are you here? B said that something in my head was loose and that you could fix it."

The guy nodded. "I do not believe that was how he phrased it, but that is accurate, if inelegant. But yes, my name is J'onn J'onzz, and I am a telepath. You do not remember me at all, do you Richard?"

"Not a clue."

J'onn nodded, as if he had expected this. "Let us get started." He reached out and put his hands on Talon's temples. He closed his eyes and entered his mind.

0000 _

J'onn opened his eyes. The world was gray, and he frowned. He had been in Dick's mind before, but it had never looked like this, flat and empty. Dick's consciousness usually manifested itself as a circus, each attraction a different memory.

J'onn wandered for what felt like forever, until an earsplitting shriek peirced the sky. He spun around, just in time to see a Barn Owl the size of a school bus diving at him. At the last second, a slightly smaller bat knocked it out of the air. The second they collided, they burst apart into a flock of normal sized robins.

This spectacle happened over and over again, until the owl slashed the bat's throat and it exploded into dust. The owl screeched again and flew off into the gray. J'onn kept walking.

He walked until he ran smack into an invisble barrier. On the other side of it, he thought he could see the lights of the circus. So Richard Grayson was not _gone,_ merely suppressed. He focusd all his mental energy into a beam and shot it at the wall. Nothing happened.

Another earsplitting screech. The owl dove out of the gray nothingness, no bat to stop it this time. It raked it's talons through J'onn's astral projection and searing pain exploded through him as he was forcibly evicted from Dick's mind.

0000 _

Talon cried out and fell to the ground at the same time as J'onn. Tim amd Jason checked on him first, which surprised him. Guess they really did care, even if they were a bunch of violence addicted nutcases who beat up bad guys at night while dressed as bats.

Not that he could talk about violence addicted nutcases.

He got to his feet with a groan and flopped down in the no-longer-spinny chair. "What happened?"

Batman looked up. "I'd like to know as well."

Tim helped a shaky looking J'onn to his feet. Once he let go, the alien promptly collapsed again, looking greener than usual. Tim tried to get him up again, , but the martian was out cold. Batman and Jason helped him over to a chair and sat him down, waiting for him to wake up. After a few minutes, his eyes fluttered open.

'' What happened?'' Batman asked again.

"It appears Psimon has left a few mental booby traps, and-"

"-You boobied right into them.", finished Talon. "Can you or can you not fix my brain?"

J'onn shook his head. "I am not strong enough. But perhaps M'gann, my neice, is.

All the Bats groaned. Talon looked blank. "Who's M'gann?"

0000 _

While Talon was waiting for the new telepath, he managed to discover two things that brought new meaning to his life. Some heavenly creation called 'cereal' and a magic box called a 'tee-vee'. He had a feeling he had seen both before, but he couldn't remember it, so who cares? He was currently watching a commercial for some sort of kitchen knife that was on sale for 'two, with a sharpener, all for just nineteen-ninety-nine'. He kind of wanted one.

He dug his hand into the box of cereal again. They were called something like _Froot Loops._ Amazing.

The big circle tunnel things at the end of the cave glowed white, and a humanoid figure materialized. Bruce nodded at him, so he stood up, stretched, and walked over to them. 'They' were a girl, who also happened to be green.

She smiled at him, then did a double-take. "Nightwing?"

Talon frowned. "Who? Do I know you?"

She frowned too. "Nightwing, it's m-Hello, Megan! This is why Uncle J'onn needs your help! My name's M'gann M'orzz, but you can call me Megan Morse. It's an Earth name, and since we're on Earth, not Mars-"

She kept talking, but Talon tuned her out and just kept nodding. Finally, she was done. She reached out and put her hands on his temples, just like her uncle had. She inhaled deeply and closed her eyes. Then, suddenly, they flew open, glowing green. Talon's world went dark.

0000 _

M'gann opened her eyes to a gray nothingness. She wasn't too shocked, as her uncle had described Nightwing's mind as a blank slate. Telepathically, she reached out, trying to sense where his consiousness had been buried. A screech echoed above her, and an owl dove out of nothing, talons glinting. She readied a psychic blast, then stopped. The owl felt familiar.

She reached out to it and found her suspiscions confirmed. The owl was a manifestation of Nightwing. She slammed her way past its mental barriers, until she found a remnant of his old self. Then she edged it out into the open, out of its shell of knives and talons. When she opened her eyes, there was a robin sitting on the ground, eyeing her curiously. She smiled at it.

"So you're not back quite all the way yet, are you?" The robin chirped. She smiled again. "Lead the way."

They wandered for a while, until they reached a mental barrier, like the one Uncle J'onn had described. She could see the circus on the other side. She shot a couple of psychic blasts at it, but nothing happened. The robin let out a frustrated sound, and started to grow.

Its feathers disappeared, becoming leathery skin. Its red breast darkened to black, and its wings became webbed. A large bat soon took its place.

The bat flew at the barrier, breaking through it, and a flood of memories immersed M'gann.

0000

 _Camera flashes. An audience. Cheering and the smell of popcorn. "The Flying Graysons!" Wait. The wires. Snapped. Wrong. Falling, not flying. Two cracks and the sharp tang of blood in the air._ Mami! Tati!

 _0000_

 _Zucco,was bound for a life sentence. Batman looked at him._ So, what do you want to be called? _A smile._ Robin. Its a family thing.

0000

 _A hand and a flash of red hair._ Barbara Gordon. You're Bruce Waynes ward, right? The new kid. _So maybe he was showing off, bragging about how he was the only one in the world who could do the quadruple areal somersault. But Barbara was cool, and he wanted her to think he was cool too._

 _But maybe that was a mistake, especially after school, when Babs was caught in the middle of a mugging, and Robin did four flips off of a building to save her._

0000

 _Not happening. Bruce didn't, couldn't, wouldn't. He knew how much Robin meant to Dick. It was his mother's. Dick dismounted from his motorcycle. He threw the door open and stormed into Bruce's study. He was waiting for Dick, of course he was. The kid was there too. What was his name? Johnson? Jason, that was it._

 _0000_

Ta-Dick dropped to his knees, sweating and panting. He looked up. "Bruce?"


	4. And if I Seemed Dangerous

_**If I owned them, I'd be rich.**_

 _ **Here's where we're really going to kiss canon good-bye, shoot I _ **t, and throw it out a window. Thank you to everyone who's reviewed, favorited, or followed this story.**_**_

"Bruce?" Dick asked again. "I think I'm remembering."

M'gann was on the floor next to him, looking like she was ready to pass out. Reliving Dick's entire life in the span of half an hour had taken a lot out of her.

Dick's eyes widened. " _I_ was Nightwing. Oh, no. Bruce, I'm so sorry." He was fighting back tears.

Jason winced inwardly. Ok, so he didn't _hate_ his brother. He was just an insufferable little ball of optimism. It wasn't his fault he was the golden child. Bruce had just gotten to him first.

Dick turned to face Jason. The black eyes-no pupil, no iris, no cornea-were really unsettling. "I remember why you disappeared now. Joker-" His eyes narrowed dangerously. "Joker."

He got up and started walking. "Hey!" Jason stood in front of him. "Where do you think you're going?"

Dick looked at him like it was obvious. "To kill the Joker. Someone should've a long time ago."

Jason couldn't argue with that, but he had to stop his brother from doing something that he'd really regret later. "Why don''t we go do that together after you cool down a litttle?"

Dick smashed a table next to him. Jason flinched. Ok, add super strength to the list of Talon talents. "No, Jay. I just remembered everything. What he did to me, to you, to Tim, to Bruce, To Dami, and to Gotham city. He needs to die."

Again, valid points. But how do you stop your angry, almost-meta brother from going out and killing people? Jason wracked his brain and came up empty. Thankfully, Tim was on top of things. He injected a syringe into his neck, and Dick swayed and collapsed.

Jason looked at the Replacement. "What'd you give him?"

"Horse tranquilizer."

" _WHAT?_ That can kill a human!"

"Relax. With his enhanced regenerative abilities, it won't even keep him down for an hour." Tim raised an eyebrow. "Didn't know you cared."

"Whatever. Shut up, Replacement."

0000

Jason sat on the chair that Dick had been spinning in. M'gann had zeta'd back to Mt. Justice a while ago.

"He's waking up!"

Jason stood up and walked over. Dick was sitting up with a more than slightly loopy smile on his face, leaning heavily on Tim. "Jaaaaaay!"

Oh no.

"Nope." Jason turned and started to walk away.

"Jason get back here! It's your turn to watch him."

"No way! You know how he gets on sedatives."

"Yeah, that's why I'm making you do it!"

Jason turned around and glared. Mistake. Dick was sitting there with a kicked puppy look on his face. "Jay, will you _pleeeaaaasse_ stay with me?" Cue even wider, more watery puppy dog eyes.

"Fine!" Jason heard a snicker behind him. The demon brat was laughing at him. Dick's face broke into a grin, and that almost made this worth it. Almost.

0000

When Dick was on sedatives or painkillers, he got _really_ loopy and _really_ clingy. Jason couldn't even go to the bathroom without him wanting to tag along.

"JAAAAY!" Oh, for crying out loud. What now?

"What?"

"You shouldn't kill people, Jay."

Jason rolled his eyes. "Why not?"

Dick seemed to think about this, then nodded once sharply. "Because, when you kill people-" He paused dramatically. "-they die."

"No crap. You're one to be giving me this lecture." He regretted the words as soon as they were out of his mouth.

Dick lowered his head. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

Jason cursed his lack of brain to mouth filter. He stood up. "Screw this. Demon Spawn! Your turn!"

"DAAAAMIIIII!" Good lord. He left.

0000

Jason was cleaning his guns in his favorite safe house when he heard a noise in the kitchen. He clicked off the safety and crept into the main area of his home. What he saw made him sigh in irritation and relief. A certain ex-Talon was sitting on his counter, going through his cabinets.

"Dick, what do you think you're doing? I almost shot you."

His older brother looked up. His black eyes were hidden by a pair of sunglasses, even though it was like two in the morning. Jason was thankful for this. He was also wearing a gray sweatshirt and black jeans. Jason had no idea where he'd gotten them.

"One, if you'd shot me, it would have healed, like, instantly. Two, I'm going through your food, what does it look like I'm doing? Three, why don't you have any cereal?" Dick sounded slightly peeved about the last thing.

"Because we're not all sugar addicted nutcases like you. Why are you here, Dick? Alfred run out of Cocao Puffs? 'Cause there's none here."

"Can't I just visit my little bro?"

"You have three."

"Maybe you're my favorite."

"Tim and Damian will be brokenhearted. Seriously, why are you here?"Dick sighed.

"Things at the cave are... tense right now. Bruce is ignoring me being a Talon, Tim is treating me like a lab rat, Dami's just waiting for me to snap, and Alfred is Alfred, which is great, but still. Any more questions?" Jason nodded.

"They just let you leave?"

"I'm an ex-Talon and a Bat. They probably just noticed I'm gone."

"Right. Do you remember anything from when you were higher than a kite and loopier than a roller coaster?"

"Nope.

"Good. How did you get in here? You don't know my password."

"Yeah, I do."

"What is it?" Dick rattled off a series of numbers and letters while Jason stared, open-mouthed.

"Told you so."

"Know it all."

"Little Wing."

"Dickface.

"Red Bucket."

"Discowing."

"You win."Jason grinned triumphantly, then frowned.

"But why come to me?"

"Because I trust you, Jay." Well. _That_ was unexpected, to say the least. Jason snorted.

"Right. It's not like I've ever tried to kill/maim any of you." Now he was sure Dick was rasing an eyebrow behind those shades.

"Tried being the operative word there."

"Hey, if I really wanted to... "

"Exactly. You didn't really want to."

"That's what you think."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, little bro." Jason was relieved. Things were like before with Dick, bantering and bickering. Dick was still... off somehow, though. Like he was trying too hard to be normal. Then an idea hit him.

"Hey, Dick, you wanna go on patrol? Just the two of us?" Punching bad guys in the face always helped Jason. Dick smiled. A real one, this time.

"Why not?"

0000

Dick hadn't brought his costume, and Jason didn't keep spare Nightwing outfits lying around, so he threw some kevlar and a domino mask at his brother and told him to put it on. Turns out Dick had been wearing his Talon outfit under the baggy sweatshirt, and he couldn't understand why he couldn't just wear that, coupled with the domino. Jason looked at him incredulously.

"You _want_ to get shot by the police?"

He put on the kevlar. Even though he didn't need it.

Jason and Dick perched on the edge of a building. Jason seemed to be waiting for something. Fifteen minutes later, he spoke.

"What, no lectures on the virtues of morality? No checking to make sure I have rubber bullets instead of real ones?" Dick raised an eyebrow.

"I think I'm the last person who should be lecturing you about killing." Then he jumped off the roof. _Crap._

It might be harder to fix his brother than he initially thought. He was thinking about what the old Dick had been like, as compared to the new, when he heard a grunt of pain coming form the alley below. He jumped without hesitation.

Dick was whaling on some muggers, while the victim stood off to the side, frozen in shock. Jason grinned wildly under the hood and joined the fray.

It was going great, until one of the douches managed to get in a lucky hit and knock off his helmet. Great. He felt the muzzle of a gun pressed against his temple. Even better. The perp was shaking. He gestured at Dick.

"If you move, I'll shoot him!" That was very much the wrong thing to say.

Dick growled, a feral noise that should never have come from a human mouth, and his face went completely devoid of emotion. A silver arc flashed through the air, and the gun-toting maniac went down with a new hole in his neck.

"Dick?" Jason asked. Dick focused on him, and Jason realized that this wasn't his brother, this was a Talon who could kill him in an instant. Then, his expression wavered.

"Jay?"

"Thank God."

Dicks' eyes went wide behind the domino mask.

"Oh, no, I killed him. Another person is dead because of me." He sat down heavily. Jason sat down next to him.

"I'm a monster." Jason pushed him as hard as he could, and Dick nearly fell over.

" _Don't_ _ever say that again._ " Jason was angrier than he ever had been, and that was saying something. Dick ripped off the domino and leaned back into the alley's greasy wall.

"But it's true."

"No, it's not!"

"Yes, it is! Can humans do this?" He picked up a piece of glass from a broken beer bottle lying in the alley, and before Jason could stop him, slashed at his arm. It cut through skin and tissue like butter. But it didn't bleed, and before Jasons' eyes, it closed up, leaving no scar. Dick looked miserable.

"I'm an immortal assassin, Jason. I've killed people."

"So have I! Do you know how many you've killed?"

"Four?" Dick sounded confused.

"Exactly. Did you kill any of them on purpose?" Jason's voice was calm and steady.

"Well, no, except-" Jason interrupted.

"Just now, when you saved my life. He was going to shoot, Dick. Do you know how many people I've killed?" Dick shook his head mutely.

"Neither do I. So, get up and quit feeling sorry for yourself. If anyone's the monster here, it's definently not you. 'Sides, there can only be one black sheep per family, and that's definitely not you, Golden Boy." Dick finally looked up.

"Thanks, Jay. You're not a monster either, though. Sometimes, you're exactly what this city needs. Let's get back to the Cave." He scaled the nearest building and grappled away, leaving Jason open mouthed. Dammit. He was supposed to be the one comforting Dick here! He sighed and followed.

0000

They entered the Batcave through Wayne Manor and the grandfather clock. The entire family was gathered around the huge computer moniter, trying to figure out where Dick had gone. Dick walked cheerily down the stairs.

"Hello!"

Everyone crowded around, talking at once. Then Alfred stepped forward, and they all fell silent.

"Thank you for bringing him home, Master Jason." He turned to Dick. "And as for you, young sir, do you have _any_ idea how worried we were?" He handed a fifty dollar bill to Batman.

"Master Bruce. Would you be so kind as to fetch the swear jar? I believe I shall require it soon." Dick gulped. _Crap._


	5. Would You Be Scared?

**So, in this, Dick has lived in Bludhaven, but he hasn't been a cop.**

Jason and Dick were leaning against the wall, still shivering from getting chewed out by Alfred. Jason turned to look at his brother.

"So, what do you think you'll do now?" Dick shrugged.

"Dunno. Probably go back to the 'Haven, once we get the whole 'looking like a Talon thing' cleared up. Who knows, maybe I'll become a police officer. Lord knows Blüdhaven could use a few honest ones." Jason snorted.

"That'll be the day."

0000

 **FIVE MONTHS LATER**

Dick leaned on Jason's shoulder.

"Man, don't you just hate it when you have to eat you own words?"

"Stuff it, Dick."

"Y'know, I can't tell if you're insulting me or actually saying my name."

"Both."

Jason glared at his brother. Not for the first time, he was taken aback by Dick's blue eyes. Also not for the first time, he thanked whatever deity there was for Tim's brain. It had taken a while, but they'd found a cure for the corpse-like gray skin and empty black eyes. Dick still healed crazy fast and had night vision, but at least he was looking like himself again.

Jason was currently helping him move into a new apartment in Blüdhaven. This one was closer to the police station, and more importantly, a Zeta Tube. It was slightly bigger than his last one, and it had skylights to make it easier for Nightwing to drop back in after patrol.

Jason looked at Dick. "I still can't beleive you're a cop. When are you going to sleep?"

"Don't need sleep." His voice floated out of somewhere behind a mountain of boxes.

"What?" Dick's head poked out between stacks of cardboard. His face was dark.

"Talon thing." He disappeared again.

"Um. Oh. Sorry."

" 'S fine, you didn't know. 

They finished unpacking in silence.

0000

Dick walked in through the front doors of the station and took a deep breath. Right, first day on the force. He could do this. He adjusted his sunglasses and headed for the bullpen. 

He opened the door and was nearly hit in the face with a dart. He easily caught it, and thanked his excellent reflexes. He closed the door behind him, noting the faded green foam, full-of-holes target attached to the back of it.

He held up the cheap red plastic dart.

"Did someone lose this?" No one heard him in the chaos of the room. Then the door opened behind him, and just as if someone had flipped a switch, the place was perfectly still. He turned around to find a man as tall and broad as Batman standing behind him.

"Umm... Hi?" The guy bent down so he was nose to nose with Dick.

"Who're you?"

"Richard Grayson? I just joined the BHPD." The man frowned, chewing on a fat cigar hanging out of the left side of his mouth.

"Grayson? Yeah, I know who you are. I'm Chief Redhorn. You're gonna be partnered up with Detective Rorhbach to learn the ropes." He gestured vaguely to the far side of the room, where a woman with long brown hair pulled back into a bun was leaning against the beige plaster wall, arms crossed.

"Amy? Show 'im the patrol route, would ya? Thanks."

0000

Dick sat shotgun in Amy Rochbachs police cruiser, gazing idly out the window. Bludhaven looked pretty much the same as Gotham, with maybe a bit more gang tagging and neon lights. His new 'partner' looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

"All right, I gotta ask. What's with the glasses, Detective Shades?" He winced internally. This question was bound to come up sooner or later.

"Medical condition. Got whacked upside the head pretty hard back in Gotham. Can't stand bright lights." None of this was particularly untrue. He'd been hit in the head plenty of times in Gotham. And it was technically a medical condition.

"Mm. So, you're from Gotham? Heard that's a rough place to grow up in. Unless you're Bruce Wayne."

"Yeah, I'm from there. Sorta." She gave him a wierd look.

"What do you mean by that?" He shrugged.

"I grew up in Haly's Traveling Circus until I was nine."

"What happened then?"

"My parents and I were the Flying Graysons-the world's most famous trapeze artists. Tenowed for doing a quadruple aerial somersault without a net. So when someone cut the strings during a show in Gotham, there was nothing to catch them."

Amy was quiet for a minute. "I'm sorry, Richard."

"Dick."

"Excuse me?"

"My friends call me Dick. Short for Richard."

"You seriously want to be called that? The guys back at home base aren't just corrupt, they're vicious."

"Hey, if I made it through high school with this name... " Amy snorted.

"Hey, Detective Rohrbach?"

"Call me Amy, kid."

0000

Nightwing sat on top of his new apartment building, surveying the street below. Blüdhaven was worse than Gotham, in so many ways. His musings were interrupted by his annoyingly happy ringtone.

He pulled out his phone. Unknown number. 

"Hello?"

"Dick?"

"Amy? What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Just that Chief called me up for a graveyard patrol. You want to tag along? I'm gonna need someone else and about three cups of double shot espresso to keep me awake." 

"Sure." Not like he had anything else to do, besides running around trying to save the most corrupt city ever.

"Jeez, you agreed to that quickly. You're a bit of a night owl, huh?" Dick's insides froze, but forced himself to keep his tone light.

"You could say that." She really had no idea. "Meet you at the station?"

"Yeah."

0000

Detective Amy Rorhbach may have been a lot of things, but she wasn't stupid. And she _was_ a cop. A cop who had done her research on her new partner, Richard John Grayson.

His circus story checked out, but he conveniently forgot to mention the part about being adopted by _Bruce Wayne_. Seriously, Dick had to be loaded. He didn't need a job, but he wanted a career as a street cop in Blüdhaven, the city who _Gotham's_ crime rates were second to? Didn't check out.

And then there was the whole thing where he completely fell off the radar for a whole year. Disappeared without a trace. What had happened then?

She shook herself out of her thoughts as Dick walked out of the police station. She unlocked the doors of her cruiser, and he opened the door. Part of the reason she had asked him along was that she wanted to learn more. The other half of it was that he was actually a decent person to have around.

He flopped down in the shotgun seat. He tried to put his feet on the dash, but she slapped him on the leg and he took them down.

"I just go this cleaned!"

"Sorry. So, where are we going?"

"Just patrolling around Main Street."

"M'kay."

 _It's midnight and he doesn't even look tired,_ she thought to herself. In fact, he was more energetic than usual. Wierd. 

Also, now that he was without the ridiculous sunglasses, she could see that his eyes were a clear shade of blue.

As they cruised past another bar lining the street, the radio crackled to life.

"Attention all units... the Red Hood is robbing a convenience store? Please converge on-" the voice, garbled by static continued to state an adress. "Suspect is considered armed and dangerous."

Amy flicked a switch on the radio. 

"10-4, Dispatch." Beside her, Dick facepalmed and muttered something like, "That idiot."

Amy looked at him sideways. "So, Hood's from Gotham, right?"

"Yeah, he's kind of an anti-hero vigilante. He kills the bad guys instead of taking them to jail. Except there was that one time where he took over Gotham city's entire drug trade... " Amy frowned.

"So what's he doing robbing a gas station convenience market?"

"I have absolutely no idea."

"Maybe it's someone dressed like him."

"I sure hope so", Dick mumbled under his breath. "Otherwise I'm gonna kill him."

Amy didn't think she was meant to hear that last part.

0000

They pulled into gas station amid flashing lights and blaring sirens. An officer was standing in front of the door with a megaphone.

"Come out with your hands up!"

A voice floated through the shattered window. "Try and make me, you #$&% $ !"

"That idiot." Dick mumbled again.

The officer repeated what he had said. Red Hood gave the same answer, with new curse words. Dick sighed and started walking towards the front door.

The officer holding the bullhorn started yelling again.

"Hey, rookie! Stop! You can't go in there!" Dick ignored him and kept on walking. He reached out and pushed open the door. The bell on the handle rung, and then the door closed blocking her partner from view. Soon yelling and sounds of a scuffle could be heard.

"Ow! Hey! No fair, Dick!" Amy assumed that he was insulting Dick, because there was ni way the Red Hood knew her partner's name. Suddenly everything was quiet and the door awung open. Red Hood was lying on his face, hands cuffed behind his back. He managed to raise his head off the ground, and Amy could just tell he was grinning under the mask.

"Oh no! My dastardly plan has been foiled by this shining paragon of humanity! I would have got away with it too, if not for you meddling cops!" Amy decided that there was no way that this was the real Red Hood. Dick kicked him in the side. Hard.

"Stuff it, Red Bucket."

"Ow! What was that for, Dick?" Amy frowned.

"Do you know him?"

"Never seen him before in my life." Dick kicked their captive sharply again. He looked pretty annoyed. For a second Amy could've sworn his eyes were black instead of blue.

"Ow!"

0000

The next morning, Amy was sitting at her desk, with her head down. A small _thunk_ made her look up. Dick was standing there, shades and all, amd he had just put a double shot esspresso on her desk. She squinted up at him.

"Red Hood escaped the holding cell last night." He shrugged. 

"I know. But there's a robbery in progress that we've been dispatched to. Figured you'd want some energy."

"Thanks."

"Does this mean I can drive?"

"In my car? Over my dead body, kid."

0000

They arrived at the scene of the crime just as the perps were attempting to make their escape. One of them pushed her down and she cracked her head against a brick wall. Dazed, she could only watch as the other guy fired a round at her partners side.

Dick looked over at her, and she didn't know why, but she faked unconciousness. His eyes, showing because his glasses had fallen off, narrowed when he saw her limp body lying against the alley wall.

"You really shouldn't have done that." The actions that followed made Amy wonder if she _had_ hit her head too hard. There was no way a human could move that fast. But before she knew it, both thugs were on the ground.

Dick came over to her. "Amy? Are you awake?"

She made a big show of blinking and looking disoriented.

"Dick? Are you okay? I saw you get shot!"

"He missed."

"Then why is there a tear in your uniform lined with powder burns?"

"He must have just grazed my shirt."

"Oh." Now she was feeling a little wierd. Maybe she did have a concussion. Dick helped her up.

"C'mon, we're taking you to the hospital."

0000

Once she got back home she did a little more research. Dick Grayson had moved inhumanly fast. And his eyes had turned _black._ That wasn't normal. Neither were the flips he'd done when taking out those crooks. Sure, he'd been in the circus, but from what he'd said he hadn't been in it in over a decade. And she was absolutely sure he'd been shot at point blank range.

So she logged on to her laptop and entered 'acrobatics+speed+black eyes+healing factor' into the search engine. One of the first things that came up was some old Gotham cospiracy theory about some 'Court of Owls' and their meta-assassins 'Talons'. No way was Dick involved in some old fairy tale. Ridiculous.

At least, that's what she thought until a few weeks later, when she _really_ got knocked out by a perp and woke up just in time to see Dick throw an owl-handled knife at her attackers. Her blood froze. It was true.

Her partner was a Talon.

 **Okay so I'm not dead. I think. I'll update more cosistantly now. I hope.**

 **It's just that Homecoming was last weekend and I wrote out a chapter, hated it, deleted it, and rewrote this in the last twenty-four hours. As always, review favorite or follow.**

 **And it's like eleven here in Washington state, so I will fix any mistakes tomorrow.**

 **Also, I'm already thnking about a sequel involving Red Hood and the Outlaws. The one with Artemis and Bizarro. And maybe Defacer (Shawn Tsang) from DC Rebirth. What do you think? Please give feedback.**


	6. I Get the Feeling Just Because

Amy still wasn't quite sure how to react when she arrived at the station the next morning. If it could be called that. It was approaching winter, so the sky at seven AM was still a midnight blue. Amy watched with slight interest as her breath plumed in front of her.

She walked in through the front doors, spotting her possibly-an-immortal-assassin partner, hassled-looking and dressed in an obscene amount of layers. He wore his usual sunglasses. Now she knew where his light sensetivity came from.

She raised an eyebrow at him, trying to stay calm.

"Thirty-two degrees is warm for the 'Haven, you know. How are you going to last when it really starts to get cold?"

"Take an extended vacation in Hawaii?" His voice was muffled by at least two scarves.

"How are you going to afford that on our salaries?" He was about to reply when a young, but haughty, voice interupted.

"Grayson, take that ridiculous scarf off. You look like a Harry Potter cosplayer. And you sound like you are talking through a mouth full of cotton balls." A kid walked out of nowhere, dressed in a red sweatshirt. He looked about ten.

"Damian, its just red and yellow striped. Besides, Gryffindor is awesome!"

The kid sniffed. "I would have taken you for a Hufflepuff."

Dick grinned hugely.

"You did read Harry Potter! I'm so proud!"

"Tt."

Amy cleared her throat awkwardly.

"Um. Who is this?" Dick looked around for a second before his eyes landed on the kid.

"Oh! Amy, this is Damian." He said this like it explained everything. She frowned.

"And?"

"He's my... well, I guess he's my little brother. Damian al Ghul-Wayne, meet my partner, Detective Amy Rorhbach." Amy frowned deeper. Al Ghul. It sounded familiar. Where had she heard it?

The news! Something about eco-terrorism involving someone named Ras al Ghul. And... a League of Assassins? Was Dick involved with them, too? What kind of mess was she getting herself into?

She shook herself out of her thoughts.

"Why's he with you today?"

"His Dad's got a meeting, Tim's in Jump City, and I have no idea whare Jason is.", He said. "Not sure I want to", he added as an afterthought.

"Who are Tim and Jason?"

"They're my brothers too."

Oh. Could Talons have siblings? Was he even a Talon? This was a confusing mess.

"What are you doing with Damian? Taking him on patrol with us?" She had been joking, but Dick nodded.

"I can't leave him by himself in my apartment. Please don't tell the chief?"

"Fine. But how are we going to get him down to the parking garage? I think the guys might notice a civilian minor climbing into a squad car, no matter how drunk they are."

The kid snorted indignantly. "Tt. I am right here, you realize. I am perfectly capable of staying 'home (If that cereal-infested mess of an apartment can be considered as such.) alone', as you people put it. I am also completely capable of making my way past several intoxicated, corrupt donut eaters without being detected." He looked at Amy.

"No offense", he said unconvincingly.

Amy blinked. Did he even know what 'no offense' means? She wanted to show him exactly how much of a 'donut eater' she was, but she had a feeling that Dick wouldn't take her punching his little brother to kindly. She looked at Dick, who shrugged.

"If he thinks he can do it... "

0000

Dick sat silently in the shotgun seat of the police car. Damian had complained bitterly about the injustice of being forced to sit in the back.

 _"I am not a child, Grayson, and therefore do not need to be treated as such!"_

 _"Damian, you're ten. In the eyes of the law, you are a child."_

 _"_ You _get to sit in the front!"_

 _"I'm twenty-five!"_

Amy kept shooting him wierd looks out of the corner of her eye, whenever she thought he wasn't looking. Almost like she was... scared. Suddenly Damian stretched and yawned loudly. He put his feet up on the headrest of Dick's seat.

Amy's eyes narrowed, and Dick gulped. Amy _loved_ her car. He'd learned exactly how much the hard way, after he'd put his feet on the dash and left a dust mark. It involved washing the outside of the car, waxing it, and vaccuming the inside of the car until it was immacualate.

Dick reached around and swatted his brother's feet down before Amy could say anything.

"Hey!" Damian yelped and leaned back, glaring at Dick.

"It's no wonder the crime rates in this city skyrocket. The police are _completely_ ineffectual.", he huffed angrily.

Amy's glare deepened, and Dick thought he saw her hand dip toward her Sig for a second. This was going to end well. He leaned back and whispered, "Damian one more word comes out of your mouth, and you're benched from a month of patrol."

Damian frowned, but wisely kept his mouth shut. He crossed his arms and gazed sullenly out the window. Dick's brow creased. What had gotten into him today? They rode back to the station in silence.

0000

Dick climbed out of the car and stretched. Man, he hated enclosed spaces. Damian followed suit, still giving the ground a death glare. Amy climbed out last, killing the engine and giving Damian her own special brand of the Bat-Glare.

Dick looked at his brother. "Damian? Could you go inside? Amy and I need to talk."

"Whatever, Grayson." Damian sounded snottier than usual.

"Thanks."

Amy raised an eyebrow, but waited until Damian was out of earshot to say anything. She still looked vaguely nervous about something, but that wasn't what he wanted to talk about.

"Look, I'm am really sorry about today. Damian's a good kid at heart, but he's an accquired taste at the best of times, and I don't know what's up with him today."

Amy shrugged, some of the tension leaving her shoulders.

"It's fine really. I needed the help working on my self-control. As for what's up with him, when did you move to Blüd?"

"A month or to ago."

"Have you seen him since then?"

"Not really."

"There you go. You should talk to him about it."

"Since when are you a psycholgist?"

"Since you started coming to me with your problems."

0000

"Hey Damian?"

"What is it, Grayson?" Dick winced inwardly. Damian still sounded mad.

"Amy said something that made me think earlier, and-"

"Tt. So this is about your _new_ partner then." Damian had been glaring out the window of Dick's navy blue sudan, but now his eyes widened, like he hadn't meant to say that. Dick felt a little worried at the outburst.

So he blurted out: "Are you mad at me for moving Bludhaven?"

Damian blinked. "Of course not, you imbecile. I understand your need to get away from Gotham, after the whole fiasco with a certain group of owls."

"So what's wrong?"

"Nothing." Damian was scowling so deeply, Dick was amazed he could talk.

"You know, one day your face is going to freeze like that." Damian frowned deeper, if that was possible.

"Grayson, that's scientifically imropable."

"I was just trying to lighten the mood. Are you upset about Amy?" he asked, recalling Damian's outburst earlier, and how most of his barbs had been directed towards his police partner.

Damian stiffened.

"Don't be ridiculous."

Ah. So something about Amy had upset him.

"Damian, she's just my partner. She's-" Damian glared at him as hard as he could.

" _I'm_ your partner! You were my Batman, I was your Robin. Father and I still don't work together as well as you and I did! We still went on patrol together occcasionally as Nightwing and Robin! Then, you moved to Blüdhaven and replaced me with _her_!"

Dick blinked, slightly shocked. He hadn't known Damian had cared that much.

"Hey, Little D?"

 _"What_ , Grayson? I told you to stop calling me that."

"Detective Amy Rorhbach is Officer Grayson's police partner, but Robin is Nightwing's right hand man. Or right hand ten-year old assassin. Same difference. You want to help me patrol Bludhaven tonight?"

Damian finally looked at Dick. He looked shocked. Sometimes it was too easy to forget that he was actually just a kid.

"You mean that?"

"Of course, Little D."

"Then we'll have to see how the criminals of Bludhaven fare against the _true_ dynamic duo tonight!" Then his eyes narrowed. "And don't call me that!"

"Sure thing, Little D."

" _Grayson!_ "

0000

Damian eyed Dick's new Nightwing suit.

"So you're going back to blue? And losing the finger stripes?"

"Yep." Privately, Dick was very proud of the advancements made to his crime fighting vigilante outfit. He waited for Damians response.

"Whatever. As long as you don't go back to the flimsy disco suit."

"You weren't even around yet when I wore that!"

"I've seen pictures. And heard Todd making fun of you."

"Let's just get out on patrol", Dick said, swinging himself up and out of the skylight in his apartment ceiling, Damian right behind him.

0000

Gotham had the reputation of being the most crime ridden city in America, but that was because of freaks like the Joker breaking out of Arkham every other week. Bludhaven probably topped it in terms of petty crime, gangs, and the drug trade. It wasn't even midnight, and they'd stopped seven muggings, an arms deal gone bad, and a fight that looked like it could've escalated to a full-scale gang war.

Now, he and Robin were perched on a building, catching their breath, when from across the street, they heard a familiar feminine voice shout.

"Get the (****) off me, you sick freak!", followed by a grunt of pain. Robin and Nightwing leapt off the roof.

Amy Rorhbach was getting mugged in an alley.

The crook had taken her gun and was pointing it at her currently. But he'd forgotten to take the safety off, meaning she wasn't in much danger. She seemed to realize this, as she was currently giving him her best ' _you-complete-idiot'_ look.

Surprisingly, Robin moved first. He knocked the gun out of the guy's hands, surprising him enough for Amy to kick him where the sun don't shine, allowing Nightwing to knock him out. They made to leave, when Amy cried, "Wait!"

They stopped and turned to her.

She took a deep breath. "Thanks."

Robin nodded in acknowledgement. Nightwing smirked.

 **I DO NOT HAVE WRITERS BLOCK, MY WRITER JUST HATES THE CLOCK! **It's midnight. Tell me a mistake and I'll fix it later. Pep band last week. And next. Review, follow, favorite, dance the polka, whatever. Give feedback on the sequel idea from last chapter, please! See look, I'm being polite and everything.****


	7. Everything I Touch Isn't Dark Enough

Amy sat with her back up against the cold stone wall, knees drawn up to her chest. It wasn't the most comfortable position. The wall was damp, and the old weathered bricks dug into her spine, but there wasn't many other positions for her to sit in, not with her wrists chained together and suspended above her head.

She sighed and squinted into the dark. She could make out the outline of a solid wood door, but she couldn't see the other side of the cell at all. Dimly, she thought she could hear water dripping.

She glanced at the door furitively. They'd taken Dick some time ago. She'd heard screaming, but that had stopped almost as soon as it had started. Somehow, the silence was worse.

He'd been gone a long time.

Or she thought so.

She'd been down here in the dark for a while. Amy missed the sun.

She hoped Dick was okay.

She dropped her head into her knees. The chains on her wrists made an ominous rattling sound.

She sighed loudly, the sound echoing around the small stone chamber. How had they gotten into this mess?

0000

 _ **ONE WEEK AGO**_

Amy pulled her squad into the police parking garage. Dick, as usual, was in the passenger seat. She yanked her keys out of the ignition and yawned.

The two of them had just finished another graveyard patrol, and Amy was ready to collapse. She glanced over at her partner.

She had dismissed all concerns of Dick Grayson being an evil, immortal, owl-themed assassin. Wow, that didn't make her sound crazy at all.

She yawned again fighting to keep her eyes open. Her partner on the other hand, didn't look tired at all, despite the fact that it was two AM. He may not have been a ruthless killing machine, but he was an odd one.

They walked out of the police station, and Dick tensed up. Amy was so tired, she didn't even notice.

She stretched widely. "When I get home, I'm going to crash immediately. Lights out. How 'bout you?"

He didn't reply, as he was looking up at the roof of the building across the street. Amy couldn't see anything, and she belatedly realized that all the streetlights on this road were out.

She squinted, and thought she could make out a tiny figure. They vanished without a trace. The streetlights came back on.

She blinked and rubbed her eyes. Man, she needed to get to sleep.

0000

 _ **TWO DAYS LATER**_

Amy and Dick were on night patrol again, driving down the brightly lit main street.

Suddenly, the police radio crackled to life. A man's voice drifted over, shaking with fear.

"Oh, God. Somebody, anyone help me! Its dark and he-it-it's coming. With a knife! It looks like a man, but bullets won't stop it!"

Multiple gunshots. Then-

"Why won't you just _die?"_

"Officer", dispatch's voice came over the radio, calm and collected as ever. "State your address."

"First avenue, that one abandoned apartment building? We got a phony call that led us here-it already killed my partner! Please, hurry!"

More gunshots.

"Its gone again. Like its playing with me. Why is it doing that!?"

Gunshots again, but this time they ended abruptly.

"Oh, God, my clip's empty. Its coming again!"

Amy glanced at her partner. He was clutching the dash so hard, his fingers were white.

"First avenue's not to far from here," She suggested.

He nodded silently.

0000

They pulled up in front of the apartment. Dick was out of the car and at the door even before she pulled the keys out of the ignition. She frowned.

"Wait up!" He didn't listen.

She ran into the building, and _man,_ this place was _creepy_. Wallpaper hung off the wall in strips, exposing faded beige plaster. The moldy green carpet was shredded, and exposed wiring hung from the ceiling. The rotted stairs looked like they would collapse if you so much as looked at them funny.

This didn't seem to faze her partner, who was climbing them as easily as if he'd been doing this since he was nine. She took a deep breath and followed.

She nearly chickened out when the first step creaked ominously as soon as she stepped on it.

By some miracle, she made it up the death trap with no injury. Unsurprisingly, Dick hadn't waited for her.

She turnes and caught a flash of a police uniform disappearing around the corner.

"Idiot", she muttered, and followed.

Unlike the downstairs, the second story had old, rotted floorboards that creaked if you breathed. Somehow, her moron of a partner didn't make a single noise as he sprinted down the corridor.

Finally, he stopped, peering around a corner. She caught up to him and slugged him in the arm as hard as she could. He didn't flinch, which annoyed her.

"What were you thinking?", she whisper-yelled. "Rule Number One-never leave your partner behind!"

He didn't say anything, just shook his head and put his finger up to his lips. He jerked his head at whatever was behind the corner.

Amy drew her Sig Sauer and check to make sure it had a full clip. Then she peeked around the corner, wincing at the feeling of moldy plaster against her cheek. She forgot about that once she saw what was happening.

Officer Cortez was hog tied in the centre of an old apartment. There was a gag in his mouth, preventing him from making any noise. A man was leaning casually against the wall, tossing and catching an owl-handled knife in one hand and watching Cortez.

He was dressed on a pitch black, skintight suit, with some sort of mask/hood thing that covered his face. He was also wearing golden armor and goggles also designed to look like an owl.

He looked exactly like the Talon pictures she'd seen on the conspiracy websites.

Suddenly, his head swung towards the door. Amy could practically see him smirking sadistically under the cowl.

"Gray Son," he called. "I know you're there. Come out and his life will be spared."

Instantly, Dick stepped around her and into the small room.

He was definentely grinning now.

"You always were too sentimental, _Grandson._ " He threw the knife with unnatural accuracy, impaling Cortez through the eye. The man's vain struggling ceased, and he went limp. Amy stumbled backwards away from the doorway.

Amy covered her mouth with her hand, gasping sightly. Dick and the Talon exchanged some more words, but she didn't catch anything they said until:

"Grandson, I see you've brought an uninvited guest. How _rude_."

Amy heard Dick shout, then felt a blow to the back of her head. Then... nothing.

000

When Amy awoke, she couldn't see anything. The space she was in was pitch black and it smelled like stone and mildew.

She heard Dick speak and felt releived, though she wasn't quite sure why.

"Amy, thank God you're awake!"

She felt kind of out of it.

"Dick? Wa'z wrong?" she slurred.

"Amy? Amy! Can you tell me what day of the week it is?"

"'Course I can. It's-" What day _was_ it? "-dunno."

"Amy, I think you may have a concussion."

"'S funny, don't remember hitting my head."

"Yeah, you usually don't. Just don't fall asleep, okay?"

"M'kay", she said, and promptly passed out again.

When she came to, Dick was gone. Then the screaming started.

She curled up as well as she could with her arms above her head. Where was the sun?

 **THIS IS SHORT, BUT WRITERS BLOCK SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE**


	8. That This Problem Lies With Me

The thick wooden door flew open, hitting the wall behind it hard enough to make Amy wince. The glare from the open doorway contrasted with the darkness inside the room, and she squinted, waiting for her eyes to adjust. Two sillhouettes filled the glaring brightness, carrying a limp, dark, lump between them. They threw it into the middle of the cell, and it landed hard on the damp stone floor with a grunt.

Then the door closed, cutting off the only light she'd seen for what felt like lump on the floor stirred, and with a start, she realized it was her partner.

"Dick!" she hissed. He groaned, climbing unsteadily to his feet.

"Amy?"

He turned towards her, and her heart jumped into her throat. Yeah, those were Dick's facial features alright, but Dick's eyes were supposed to be _blue._ Not yellow. And even with the terrible lighting she could make out the fact that his skin was practically white. He looked like - he _was_ \- a Talon.

So she'd been right, weeks ago? The owl-handled knife hadn't been a hallucination induced by a mixture of tiredness and a knock on the head? And those conspiracy theory nutcases weren't actually that crazy after all? She felt like banging her head into a wall. This was _so_ not her day. Scratch that - this wasn't her freakin' week.

"Amy?" Dick asked again, sounding slightly concerned and more than a little nervous. If possible, that scared Amy more than anything. She may have been the senior officer, but rookie cop Dick Grayson was the unflappable one. She cleared her throat.

"Yeah?"

He opened his mouth to answer but was cut off by some _very_ angry yelling from outside the door. Amy's eyes widened fractionally. Even escaped convicts didn't cuss like that when they were caught. The door opened and someone was pushed violently into the room, landing loudly on the mildewy stone floor.

Amy felt mildly annoyed. Seriously, the room was cramped enough as it was! Honestly, did the owl-headed freaks have just the one cell?

She squinted at the stranger, trying to make out anything she could about him. He had a wierd shiny... helmet(?), covering his face, and a leather jacket. Suddenly, it clicked.

"Hey", She cried. "You're that guy posing as the Red Hood who tried to rob a convenience store!" The guy groaned and got up off the floor.

"Posing as? I _am_ the Red Hood!"

"Then why were you robbing a comvenience store?"

"To mess with my bro Dickie here!" He looped an arm across her partners shoulders.

"You commit _felonies_ just to _mess with your 'bro'?"_

"Well, when you put it that way-!" Dick rubbed his head.

"Guys!" They both looked at him. "Amy, this is my, um, brother Jason; Jason, this is my partner Amy.

Amy frowned. "Dick, why is your brother a mirderous vigilante?"

Jason took off his helmet. "Dude! You just revealed my secret identity! Besides, I haven't killed anyone in months. And they deserved it."

"Oh, really? Well, then, that makes it okay! And why are you being so flippant about everything? We've just been kidnapped by a secret society that doesn't even exist!" Amy stopped to take a breath.

"Jason", asked Dick. "What are you doing here?"

Jason grinned. "Well, when the Golden Bird flew off the radar, the Bat was pretty upset. The entire family's been out looking for you, Dickie. Even the Demon was worried."

"How long have Amy and I been gone?"

"Three days-ish. I figured out where you were, but the birdbrains got the jump on me before I could let anyone else know. We're on our own."

Amy had no idea what they were talking about. Demon? Bat? Like Bat- _man_? Did Dick know who he was? She was a detective, trained to find answers. She didn't like all these questions.

Dick's voice broke her out of her thoughts. "So, do you have a plan for getting us out of here?"

Jason grinned a grin that made Amy's stomach drop to her ankles, as he pulled out what looked like an honest-to-God _grenade_ from somewhere within his jacket.

"Oh, Dickiebird, do I _ever._ "

0000

Dick was surprised at the loudness of the explosion. Like, he expected to go _bang!_ , but that was ridiculous. Of course, that might've just been his enhanced hearing.

Grimacing in pain, he gave Jason his best glare. "Why the heck do you have a military-grade grenade in your _jacket_? And didn't the owls check for you weapons when you were captured?"

Jason turned to look at him and Dick could just _tell_ he was smirking. "Honestly Dickie, I forgot it was in there. As for the 'checking for weapons' thing... I'm just that good. They took my guns though, the bastards." He clapped his hands together. "Alright, next phase of the plan. We're pretty far underground, so we need to get up high enough to be able to call in some backup. But first, we need to get our weapons back. There's no way they didn't hear that explosion though, so we need to hurry."

They raced down endless corridors, walls dripping with water and mold. Dick could tell that it was pretty dark, but he could still see perfectly. Right after they'd taken him from the cell, his 'Grandfather' had said something about 'fixing him', and unfortunately, with his newly redone Talon modifications, he had a pretty good idea of what that meant. Stupid Cobb.

Jason hadn't said anything about his new look yet, for which he was thankful. But he'd seen the fear in Amy's face when they'd put him back in the cell. Right now, he looked exactly like one of the monsters that had kidnapped her and killed one of her fellow officers.

He was jolted out of his morbid thoughts by Jason's triumphant shout. "Found the armory!"

Dick rolled his eyes as his eyes as his younger brother began pawing through stacks of weapons like a kid in a candy shop. Honestly, his family had _problems_.

Jason's head popped up from behind a row of swords. "Why does the Court have a gun rack?"

Dick answered automatically. "Talons should be able to kill with anything and everything."

Then he groaned out loud. Stupid brainwashing.

Jason tried to hand Dick a pair of escrima sticks, but he ignored them in favor of a set of Talon knives. Escrimas wouldn't do much good against the army of undead psychopaths that was advancing on them. Dick couldn't see under Jason's helmet, but he was pretty sure he was disaappointed. He strapped the bandolier of knives over his chest.

Amy emerged from somewhere with two semi-automatic pistols and enough bullets to take on the Russsian mob. He didn't want to get on her bad side. Like, ever.

Jason came out with pretty much the same as Amy, with exception on two swords strapped to his back. Seeing the look on Dick's face, he said; "What? You think you're the only one with super secret assassin training? Hate to break it to you Boy Wonder, but you're not that special. I spent two years with Ras and the Shadows, remember?"

That's when Amy chose to break in. "Boy Wonder? Who the heck are you people? I obviously don't know Dick as well as I thought, but I still trust him. Jason-Red Hood-whatever your name is, I know you're a killer, and I refuse to get lost in some dark catacombs with a dangerous mercenary who has blood on their hands!"

"Yeah, okay, I can see why that might be unappealing-", began Jason, but Amy interrupted him.

"You filled a duffle bag full of severed heads just to prove a point!"

"That was years ago! And they were drug dealers! But, I get what you're saying. Fine. Dickface over there is secretly Nightwing and the first Robin, and Bruce Wayne is Batman."

Dick's head shot up. "Jason!"

"What? She's right, we need to trust each other, and the longer we're down here, the more time they have to find us. We need to keep moving and be able to watch each other's back's. Dick stared at him for a moment.

"That... That's actually a good point."

Jason picked up one more clip of bullets. "See? Not just a pretty face after all. You ready Amy?" She looked even more shell shocked than after finding out her partner was a zombie assassin, but she nodded n determination.

"Good. Let's go."

They met the first Talon right outside the armory. Dick dispatched him silently and Jason tied and gagged him with his own feathered cape to keep him from sounding the alarm. Amy stood look out for any more approaching from down the tunnel.

They continued down the corridor, Dick taking point with his night vision, and Jason bringing up the rear with his body armor. They didn't see any more assassins, but that didn't mean they weren't there. Every creak of settling stone, every whisper of wind could be a Talon lurking in the shadows, waiting to pounce.

They made it up at least ten levels without incident. Then Jason called a whispered halt and informed them that they only had one level to go before he would be able to reach Batman on his helmet comm.

"I think we're gonna make it!", He hissed. Of course, he just had to go and jinx it.

0000

They got to the twelfth level of the underground compound before everything went wrong.

They were about to make the ascent to the thirteenth when a quiet rustling filled the emptty space behind them. When they turned around, they found the entire passage blocked by owl themed lunatics.

 _Oh_ , thought Dick. _That's where all the Talons went._ And his dear old Grampsy William Cobb was leading them.

Jason and Amy pulled their guns out of their holsters, Dick pulled four knives out of their sheaths. They were going down, but they weren't going down without a fight.

The Talons lunged first. Cobb ran at Dick right off the bat, and he couldn't see how the others. were faring.

His grandfather snarled at him. "Accept your destiny, Gray Son! Gothan will be ours to rule for a millenia!"

Dick rolled out of the way of a well aimed knife that, had it landed, could have taken out his eye. And, yeah, sure it would heal, but it would hurt and he'd be blind.

"Sorry, but I'll have to pass up that _incredibly_ tempting offer. I guess megalomania just doesn't run in the family. And eternity with _you_? Thanks, but I'll take electroshock therapy at Arkham over that any day." He gave Cobb a swift kick to throat, breakng his neck. It wouldn't keep him down forever, but it would keep him out of the fight until it healed.

He looked around to see if any of his friends needed help. Jason, naturally, was having the time of his life. Amy was doing surprisingly well, keeping two Talons at bay on her own. Unfortunately, she didn't notice the one creeping up behind her. Dick leapt after it, landing on it's back and severing its spinal cord with a knife.

They were fighting with all they had, but they were still slowly being backed into a corner. Soon, they were completely surrounded. Cobb stepped forward. His head was still at a funny angle, but as Dick watched, his neck straightened itself back into position. Dick wrinkled his nose.

"Still you rage against the inevitable, grandson. Maybe a few centuries in cryo-sleep will change your mind." If Dick's heart was still beating, it would have stopped. He couldn't go back in the coffin. He _couldn't_. "If you continue to resist, your... friends will be killed slowly and painfully, but-"

Jason interrupted. "Been there, done that. Find a new threat, you sicko!"

Cobb glared. "Nevermind. That one's death will be slow and drawn out for his insolence, but the woman will be allowed to go free, as long as you surrender, grandson."

Dick gritted his teeth. What kind of choice was that. Lose his brother and his partner, or just his brother? He unslung his knives and began to place them on the ground.

Then there was a momentous crash, and the cavalry came marching in. Seriously. Batman and Batgirl, Robin and Red Robin all appeared in the tunnel and distracted the Talons enough for Dick to break Cobb's neck again.

Robin landed in front of them. "Tt. Only _you_ could ge yourself into this big of a mess, Grayson."

0000

So, um, I'm not dead after all. Apparently, I do have a life (albeit a small one) and it gets in the way' of things like writing. PS I LOVELOVELOVE FEEDBACK!


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